Paid Upgrade Ideas

Now that we’ve launched Custom CSS and the response has been good, I’m pretty curious what you guys would be interested in for future paid upgrades.

So this is an open thread. Suggest, kvetch, wish, fantasize. Is there anything we’re not doing today that would provide enough value that you’d be willing to pay for it?

Update: Sorry for being away from the comments for a few days, I was busy at WordCamp. Just to clarify two semi-common concerns from the comments: we’re not going to charge for anything we’re currently giving away for free, and we still will be constantly improving the service, free and otherwise.

I think some folks got confused by the “upgrades” language and assumed every future enhancement to WP.com would be paid. Of course not! We want to give away as much as possible, and just charge what we have to keep the service running and continue providing great support.

Email Newsletter

Missing out on the latest WordPress.com developments? Enter your email below to receive future announcements direct to your inbox. An email confirmation will be sent before you will start receiving notifications - please check your spam folder if you don't receive this.

I would pay this instant for the right to have my own adsense ability. I know the adsense issue is being hotly debated on the forum, but I think the best way to gauge interest is to have an adsense widget (or other solution) released as one of the first paid upgrades. You’d be surprised at how big of an issue not having adsense is.

paid CSS support
theundersigned’s point-and-click customizable color theme
allowing polls in posts (or as a widget)
gravatars, openID, or some form of posting icon (especially in the forums) (hell, even a shiny little icon that says “subscriber” usually works as an incentive (see last.fm, deviantart).

Maybe have a plugin that allows you to have a small bbpress install along with their blog. Instead of just the long list of comments, they could setup a little forum if they post a post that requires a lot discussion.

Best things in life are FREE. I’d like to enjoy the free service first and will consider the paid upgrade in the near future. I just hope it’s only an option to whether we can use wp.com free (for life) or pay for an upgrade.

Thanks to all the effort you’re working on this beautiful blogging service for us to enjoy while it’s free.

I’ve always been one of those cheapos who’ll sacrifice quality for the good ol’ dime.

I’m sure there are many things that people (not myself) would be willing to pay for, bur what makes WordPress so cool is that it’s communal, effective, and, most of all, FREE. The fact that you’re willing to dish out such a good site without any dollar incentive is amazing and highly appreciated. It’s for this very reason that I reccommend you to others and will write “the WordPress team” in on the 2008 ballot.

You are truly the last *good* site on the web that hasn’t gone commercial. Please don’t change…pretty please.

I greatly appreciate the independence you have given to play with CSS (if I understood correctly). My opinion is that if you give independence with playing with the templates, and offer other templates for some fee, it might be acceptable (freedom to tinker being the point as compared to other blog hosting sites).

Thanks, and keep up the word.

PS: I still wonder how you get revenues for the bandwidth and hosting. How about some non-intrusive google ads like livejournal? You might have some backslash, but maybe worth a try?

I like all this new things for people who actually can take them, but I can’t. Can’t use paypal; don’t use dollars. I’m afraid that we could get to some point when ALL (even minor things) have to be paid. I’ve nothing bad to say about the service for the momment.. it’s just that I wouldn’t want to get out of ALL the new things just for being impossible for me to pay for them.

Thanks anyway, I know that you’re trying to do always the best for us.

First – for afree blogging service this is great. I know the reasons for disallowing javascript but I would pay for that (and be willing to pay towards the cost of any extra security measures needed) any thing that can help towards getting more robust analytics, SEO tracking and so on. That way I could maximize my Sitemeter account!
Domain mapping.
Thanks for asking.

i’m loving wordpress.com. i’m happy with the features that are offered free of charge, looking forward to more of course ;), and am wondering what you’ll have up your sleeve for the “pay” side of things.

suggestions for “paid features”, you ask? lots of storage room for pics, docs, etc. …more widgets, like polls or the like.

as it is, if i have any real complaints or criticism, it’s this: no matter what features you offer, and no matter how groovy they may be, please for the love of blog, stay competitive with your pricing. $15 for a customizable theme seems a bit weird. i’m not sure i really dig the “credits” thing you’ve got going. either. it seems needlessly complicated and, frankly, kind of silly.

keep it simple. just give us a list. “For $x you get these features. For $xx, you get these features. For $xxx and $xxxx you get valet parking and a Jacuzzi.” just not that credits thing at the price you’ve set.

keep the free side of things attractive to get us in the door, and you’ll always have a base of people who’ll sign up and pay for that little (or big) bit extra. just keep it simple.

since ’98 i’ve bounced around a lot of different blogging sites but this is IT. you guys are the candy on the icing. all in all, wordpress.com kicks butt. up, down, and sideways.

I was just thinking today that I would be willing to pay for more space (I’m not worried about running out at the moment, but I could see that as becoming a problem down the road, even with well-optimized photos), and I would definitely be willing to pay for domain parking. I already have a redirect on my domain (http://www.theinadvertentgardener.com), so I don’t think I’d be willing to pay for actual hosting — I like being able to run my email for that domain off my regular server.

That would probably be it. I waffle back and forth on Adsense or having ad capabilities. I might be willing to pay for it, but only if I saw I was getting good return on that money. No reason to pay for blog clutter if it’s not paying me back, really.

I’d say keep everything free, keep adding features, and be very aggressive about asking users for donations (where is the donate button?). Clearly, people love WordPress and are willing to pay for it. But it’s better for everyone if it stays free and WordPress is sustained on a completely voluntary basis rather than forcing users to pay out just for greater functionality on their blogs. I think part of the reason you get such overwhelmingly positive comments here from the community is that WordPress has remained free all this time.

WordPress is open-source, wordpress.com has been free, and you have links to your competitors on your ‘About’ page. Don’t turn this into a money-making operation, and keep it free…

Polls. A lot of people ask for this feature so you would get a reasonable amount of takeup.
Extra themes. There’s probably enough for free users now (including a few you could stand to lose) but some people would be willing to pay for more complex themes with features like gravatars and livesearch built-in (I’m thinking ‘upgrade from Kubrick to k2’…)
Aggregate feeds from your favourite wordpress.com blogs in the dashboard (bit like an LJ friends page. but private. and with feeds). Adding a site to your blogroll through the navbar would automatically add it to your feed list.

I wouldn’t pay for these things personally because I don’t think I need them, but based on what we see in the forums I can imagine other people wanting them.

You guys are always adding features. It is awesome the amount of work you put into making this a better place to blog. I certainly hope that WP maintains it’s integrity and does not become a “MySpace”.

But what I would like to see and I know you are working on it is the ability to put Javascript in posts. I have not wanted to do this often but the times I have wanted to I have been bummed that I could not do it. There have also been some very cool sidebar widgets that would have been good to use as well.

But the area that you guys could kick arse is allow people to pay extra to host their podcast on WordPress- everything is here already – not sure if the storage and bandwidth is, but if ppl are paying for it… The only thing that might need to be added is some stats for downloads.

Honestly now that wordpress.com is starting to monetize… I am a little concerned if us free-loaders are still going to receive as much attention as those who are willing to purchase credits. Will you get biased, wordpress guys?

I am a blogger living in China, where WP.com is blocked. What I’d most like to see is for WP.com to offer domain mapping that would help to work around the current block for people living in China wanting to read my blog. Editing my blog via the blocked WP.com is no problem, as I use TOR to get around it. Of course, domain mapping wouldn’t guarantee the Chinese government wouldn’t still try to find a way to block WP.com blogs, but I think it is unlikely they would go to that amount of trouble, unless the particular blog was regarded as influential and sensitive by the Chinese government.

Personally, the most attractive thing for me would be being able to point my domain (changingway.net) into wp.com. That, along with CSS, would allow me the control over my blog that I require.
I’ll have a think (and a post) over the weekend about what else I think WP.com could usefully and reasonably add as paid upgrades.

Easy free gangbuster: I switch themes like I change clothes, but I feel too limited with the standards and their weaknesses.

I’d like to edit most of the themes here for one reason or another. I think it would be great to get feedback on the themes posted as to why people do or don’t use them, then submit that to the creators and get them upgraded for better usability?

Paid?=Better stats. Who What When Where and Why (I really miss the where and where from)

1) Domain mapping with RewriteRules. So I can get example.com and have it be the same as ubuntu.wordpress.com. Also, RewriteRules (or the equivalent on your server) to forward/map the new post/cat etc URLs to the old.
2) More space for uploads and the ability to server media files such as mp3s/oggs/videos from the blog. Think podcasting and videocasting.
3) Custom php templates and plugins (that could possible be rewieved by one of you guys) – even at a substantial cost. There will always be the perfectionists (or should I say rich perfectionists? :) )
4) The ability to include a simple poll with a post, sort of like how LJ has it.
5) The ability to include google ads on blogs, even if that means paying a percentage of the monthly/yearly proceeds to WordPress.com. I know you may have a personal opinion about ads+blogs but should that prevent users from doing what they want, really? :)

I will forever be grateful for the FREE service of being able to survive diggs and /.ings. You rock.

I think you should charge per user, not per blog. I have a “real” blog and a “test” blog. The test one is where I try out presentation/theme changes etc before I put them across to the real blog. CSS is something that I’d like to have and I’m willing to pay $15 for it… but $30 for two blogs… not so sure. I’m not IT-literate enough to be happy diving in and changing my real blog without testing it somewhere else first.

As to the other suggestions, creating my own favicon would be at the top of the list, and some sort of javascript support second. Is there a way of having a library of approved scripts that you could let people use?

One of the most compelling parts about coming to WordPress.com was the fact that it was so much for free. I understand the need to make money to keep things running and am happy to see paid upgrades come out of that. I’m sure this will be successful if only for the fact that you involve the community so much in where things are going. I’m sure that isn’t easy and I applaud your effort to do so.

Are free upgrades still in the works or will all upgrades from here on out be on a pay-for basis? What kind of mix are you thinking about between the two? Or is the free service pretty much locked as is?

To answer the question, the only thing I’d probably pay for is to keep ads off my blog. But hopefully there never will be ads on my blog to begin with. ;)

Another vote for custom theme uploads and domain mapping. These two features would instantly cement WordPress’ position as the best weblog host around. I think paying a small fee for these features is not unreasonable. An option for more storage space for uploading of different kinds of files would also be a nice paid extra.
Also, to be able to use Google Analytics would be nice, and more sidebar widgets such as feedburner (please :D ), polls etc…

Whatever you do, make sure there’s always a quality free service for everyone to enjoy.

I’m very interested in seeing what will be made purchaseable in the future. I’d also like to see positive examples of what people have done with the CSS capabilities they’ve been given.

One main concern I have is that numerous purchase options have the potential to add up into a large annual subscription price that would approach the cost of independent hosting. I was a little surprised that changing CSS was an annual $15 but I read Matt’s reasoning on it and can see the logic.

Having sounded like I’m a critical person, I just want to say that I love WordPress and pretty much everything WordPress has done. Thanks Matt and Podz and countless others who make WordPress so great.

Matt,
few thoughts..
1) Domain mapping
2) Automattic Paid Hosting – How about paid hosting by experts in WordPress? :) WordPress team must earn as little as possible to stay creative,
3) WordPress Community Features – For instance, my blog jobs4umate.wordpress.com gets advtantages like visibility through wordpress tag, visibility in dashboard(best blog, fastest growing..). When I move my blog to a paid wordpress hosting, I shouldn’t loose these features and should able to be inside wordpress community. In fact this feature should be free. :)

Having ads is what I’ve always wanted. Not just text ads. But the ads where the person could show a picture of what they’re selling. I’ve seen this on other sites. I’ve seen two types of ads that I believe are html ads and not javascript. Maybe like a monthly fee the way Typepad has their monthly fee to blog over there.

I’d say the more you can keep things free, the better. Do you have a donate button somewhere?

That said, I personally don’t care about custom CSS. There are a few things I’d like to tweak, but not $15 worth of things. I might pay for domain mapping, but I have redirects set up now and that’s good enough.

If ads every started showing up on my blog, I’d pay to have them removed, assuming it was a reasonable cost. I hope that I never see ads on my blog to begin with, but I know you guys have to pay the bills somehow.

That leads me to a big question: Now that you have a payment system, what balance between free and paid upgrades do you have in mind?

I think it is critical that you stick with providing an excellent platform for individuals. WordPress is just so easy to use and customise as it is and that is why it is so great.

Also it sounds alittle to me like a service that makes it easier for people to host their own blogs on their own domain would do tonnes of business. The demands for customisation, better stats, adsense and greater freedom are all signs of that. Can WordPress.com realistically provide such mass customisation for everything and still operate? Maybe what the upgrade should offer is a hand holding move to a hosted domain/blog with the backup and support that we currently get on WordPress.com.
That could be the:
‘”$xxx and $xxxx you get valet parking and a Jacuzzi.” from withinyouwithoutyou’s comment above.

Allow greater customisation but at a cost. Encourage others to develop the actual widgets and scripts etc. But make it easy as pie to integrate them and use them if you are willing to pay a small amount.

Adsense would be OK, but I’d much rather have the ability to put my own ads on my site.

I certainly wouldn’t mind paying a small fee to WordPress.com every time I upload a new ad onto the page. I’m not deluding myself into thinking I’ll get rich with my blog. But it’d sure be nice to cover some other expenses I incur.

You guys at WordPress do a great job; I certainly wouldn’t mind you guys getting a cut of the action.

“WordPress.com is a project brought to you by some of the same folks who do the Open Source blogging software available at WordPress.org”

I don’t mind if you make certain things paid upgrades, I definitely understand that runnign such a site/service must cost money and that somebody must pay thie bills. With that said, whatever happened to the whole free and open source approach?

All in all, I just hope that this isn’t the end of progress for those of us who will remain on the free side of things. As a student my budget is quite limited and paid upgrades aren’t exactly something I can afford at the moment. I also use the blog to publish some of my work (journalism student): it’s my own little automotive news e-publication.

Don’t get me wrong, I love this place. However, I just hope that this doesn’t spell the end to all progress to WordPress in general, unless you’ve got some $$$ to spend.

I think it should stay free as it is and only charge for a domain name if someone wants one. Reason for this is that whoever wants a blog, they want it free otherwise people would be buying template website solutions for around $80 off the Internet and they would be hosting whole websites.

I don’t really know if this idea is a “Paid Upgrade Idea” but I like to se something like a “One-on-One WebDesign & CSS Exchange for Hosted WordPress Blogs” where talented people in design meet prospective customers and visa versa. Becaus not everybody has the talent and time to design their hosted unique WP blog … What do you think?

And why not pay these kind of services in a common tip jar and split the money amoungst the contributers?

I’d definitely pay a fee to use google ads. Increased file space could be well implemented as well. I could easily see myself paying for both of these features down the line as long as the price isn’t outrageous. Also, I always prefer one time fees over monthly/yearly ones.

The only thing I can think of that I feel’s *really* missing would be the ability to use a domain name with my blog. I’m in two minds as to whether I’d use it or not – there’s something about being *.wordpress.com that makes me feel all warm and social-networky.

As I read the comments, I thought to myself that I really didn’t have any immediate requests that I’d consider valuable enough to pay for. Then I considered forums. If that were possible on my WordPress site, I’d pay for that…a page with my own forum I can moderate, etc…yup, I’d be willing to pay for that.

I think it is not a good idea for WP to provide paid features which are free on other blogging services and make no direct revenue for users (e.g. CSS and other template customization). Placing ads, domain mapping, themes by request, plugins/widgets by request, more space for uploaded files, multi-user blogs are the things which could be non-free, IMHO. I think also that the latest “private blogging” feature could be paid, rather than “custom CSS”.

struck a deal with either Google or Yahoo to place ads on blogs that users agree to. If you deal it well you’d get a bit more than individual users are able to and can keepit plus a small %. Users can have their own JS ads by paying a fee…